3rd time's the charm...
08-06-2009, 02:03 AM
Okay, everyone knows that the trilogy is the standard for the typical franchise, and for horror it seems that just behind movie #1, movie #3 tends to be the fan-favorite a loooooooot of the time, trilogy or beyond. You have to admit, fan support the three-quels is large, possibly because for really successful series producers are more likely to put money on what may be the big finish for the storyline, and writers may very well be equally excited to cap off a successful saga.
There are numerous examples of the "big #3" in horror; Saw III was of course meant to be the last film in the series and has garnered a huge amount of fan support for "ending it" in the way it did... Of course after said film, fandom petered out to a point and support largely dropped for part IV and beyond. The fans now refer to the series as "two trilogies" with a majority favoring the first.
"Dream Warriors" is seen by a good amount of people to be the only good Nightmare on Elm Street sequel, and some find the more action-oriented film to be their favorite. Though part 4 also did well with the populace, many people became enamored with the third film, and some horror fans (From what I see, largely outside the more accepting NOES fandom) even ignore the decision to continue the franchise.
The part 3s of the low-budget-classic-sequel-machines Puppet Master and Leprechaun series are both ranked highest on the IMDb, and both "Toulon's Revenge" and "In Vegas" have been called the best at what their respective series have been about.
Friday the 13th is a minor exception to the trend in a lot of ways: Not only was it not called the definitive end to it's series, but it is not often called the best by the fans, although it is known to have many perks and quirks that endear it to the horror-public in ways that other Friday films do not; it was "the one in 3D" (As was Nightmare 3) as well as the first film to have Jason in his current trademark goalie mask and on top of that contains the famous "spear-gun-death"
When part 3s are "nothing special" to a filmmaker, they can turn out differently; for instance Phantasm III and Basket Case 3, both allegedly pretty much "nothing special" to their filmmakers are sometimes considered similarly "nothing special" to audiences. In the same vein and connecting back to my earlier "duologies" analysis, when a film series seems to actually be "made" to be a duology and later films are made for money... well, that is a bad sign. Beyond Re-Animator, Ginger Snaps 3, the infamously unrelated Halloween 3, Urban Legend 3, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3 all have their share of haters. Hellraiser 3 can also fall into this category, but since it's main change was being more "general audience friendly", some horror fans indeed rank it as better than the first 2. Hellraiser 3's case can also be argued as Army of Darkness's, which has it's own very dedicated fans despite going away from the Evil Dead series's ultra-gory roots.
Of course, if the third movie is a big success, history says that there will most likely be diminishing returns, which somewhat betrays the idea of wanting to put so much stock or creative juice into a part 3... But of course there is the idea that if audiences don't like part 3 that much, there won't be a part 4; In a way the idea of the horror trilogy with a big-bang end has been ingrained into the horror-fan's consciousness.
So, what do other people have to say about "the rule of 3"? Any favorites or other observations?
There are numerous examples of the "big #3" in horror; Saw III was of course meant to be the last film in the series and has garnered a huge amount of fan support for "ending it" in the way it did... Of course after said film, fandom petered out to a point and support largely dropped for part IV and beyond. The fans now refer to the series as "two trilogies" with a majority favoring the first.
"Dream Warriors" is seen by a good amount of people to be the only good Nightmare on Elm Street sequel, and some find the more action-oriented film to be their favorite. Though part 4 also did well with the populace, many people became enamored with the third film, and some horror fans (From what I see, largely outside the more accepting NOES fandom) even ignore the decision to continue the franchise.
The part 3s of the low-budget-classic-sequel-machines Puppet Master and Leprechaun series are both ranked highest on the IMDb, and both "Toulon's Revenge" and "In Vegas" have been called the best at what their respective series have been about.
Friday the 13th is a minor exception to the trend in a lot of ways: Not only was it not called the definitive end to it's series, but it is not often called the best by the fans, although it is known to have many perks and quirks that endear it to the horror-public in ways that other Friday films do not; it was "the one in 3D" (As was Nightmare 3) as well as the first film to have Jason in his current trademark goalie mask and on top of that contains the famous "spear-gun-death"
When part 3s are "nothing special" to a filmmaker, they can turn out differently; for instance Phantasm III and Basket Case 3, both allegedly pretty much "nothing special" to their filmmakers are sometimes considered similarly "nothing special" to audiences. In the same vein and connecting back to my earlier "duologies" analysis, when a film series seems to actually be "made" to be a duology and later films are made for money... well, that is a bad sign. Beyond Re-Animator, Ginger Snaps 3, the infamously unrelated Halloween 3, Urban Legend 3, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3 all have their share of haters. Hellraiser 3 can also fall into this category, but since it's main change was being more "general audience friendly", some horror fans indeed rank it as better than the first 2. Hellraiser 3's case can also be argued as Army of Darkness's, which has it's own very dedicated fans despite going away from the Evil Dead series's ultra-gory roots.
Of course, if the third movie is a big success, history says that there will most likely be diminishing returns, which somewhat betrays the idea of wanting to put so much stock or creative juice into a part 3... But of course there is the idea that if audiences don't like part 3 that much, there won't be a part 4; In a way the idea of the horror trilogy with a big-bang end has been ingrained into the horror-fan's consciousness.
So, what do other people have to say about "the rule of 3"? Any favorites or other observations?
âThe Fright Night remake is a film which taps into the audienceâs deepest rooted fears, such as those of vampires throwing motorcycles at them. I dread the thought of a vampire throwing a refrigerator or a deskjet printer or... Iâd better stop before I give myself nightmaresâ
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. I'm just saying "they" (As a collective consciousness) tend to favor the part 3. Gung-ho fan-peoples like us know our shit well enough to make our own decisions on our favorite installments of a series. 